Borin Gaunt
by Geoff Hart
Summary: A boy has just turned 10 years old and is now old enough to start school. Learn of his many different experiences as he meets new people and learns the many different professions of Azeroth.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

The green light which seemed to drain whatever strength he had left began to grow larger. His robes grew heavy with the weight of his own blood. He could feel his heart pounding what little blood he had left as his vision began to fade. He felt cold. A familiar blackness surrounded him as he could hear a distant voice.

"_You will grow strong,_" it said, "_You will make me proud, Borin._"

He could not hear these words, but rather read them in his mind. A mild buzzing filled his ears as he heard these words, as though he could feel everything he once was slipping away. It was now black and cold. He could no longer feel his body.

"_Wake up,_" he heard, "_I hate sleeping next to you!_"

Borin awoke, feeling his heart still pounding in his chest. As he sat up, he was relieved to be safe back in his bed with his friend, Ulric. They were both orphans of Stormwind City and had been best friends ever since they could remember.

Borin found himself flat in the middle of the one-person bed, skin as white as snow. He scooted back over to his "side" of the bed, a line which they had both agreed on since the "merging." Borin hated sharing the bed as much as Ulric seemed to express, however they had been some of the lucky ones. Many of the children were sleeping on the hard wooden floor with nothing but blankets which had been torn to share among the others and pillowcases filled with hay or dirt.

"_I wish this stupid war would end already,_" Ulric rolled on his side with a smug; "_All of these other kids are hogging our beds!_"

The war between man and orc seemed to never die. The constant territory gains and losses forced many families to migrate from place to place. Not to mention the dangerous food shortages which had made Stormwind City one of the only places men could live without fear.

The soft sound of rustling implied that Ulric's quiet ranting had awoken some of his fellow orphans. "_Shh!_" one child ordered. Borin was relieved that the pitch black room prevented Shellene, the orphan caretaker from knowing who exactly had awoken the others. As the warmth of his own blood began to fill his body again, Borin laid back down and tried to go back to sleep. He wanted to tell Ulric about his dream, but only received a tired grunt every time he attempted to get Ulric's attention with an elbow to the back.

A good twenty minutes had past of attempting to sleep before Borin found himself wide awake. He sat up again, wiping his eyes and jumping off of his bunk bed. Although reaching only five feet, he had been used to jumping off of his eight foot high bed without making a noise. He and Ulric had made it routine to sneak out about once a week before the other children had shown up to the orphanage.

He walked over to the nearest window and jumped out. The soft patch of dirt which he and Ulric had made allowed this to also make no noise. Night shift guard duty did not seem to be too intense, mostly given that there were not much adult men left in Stormwind. The only guard who ever had seen him or Ulric was Shellene's husband, Rowan. The only reason he never turned the two children in is because it would cause his wife to get into some rather serious trouble with the city. Through the years, Rowan had began to converse with the boys during their "escapes." During these times, Rowan would explain how he had become a guard. "_Because I could never tell the difference between the ends of a horse back in school!_" he once told the boys with a hearty laugh.

This seemed to Borin like a good time to meet up with his only adult friend. As usual, he found Rowan patrolling along Stormwind's canal system. He could always tell which guard was Rowan by looking at the cloth on the side of his armor. It seemed to be the only clean one of any of the guards. While many of the others were dirty from their days of use, Rowan's still held a vivid red. While Rowan slept during Shellene's work, she would wash his clothes along with the children's. As Borin ran up to him, Rowan could hear his ever so sly footsteps.

"_No duo of destruction tonight?_" Rowan laughed.

"_Ulric is dead as a rock_" Borin smiled.

"_Well, now that you mention it, it's not Friday,_" Rowan said as he looked up at the stars, "_what are you doing here?_"

"_I couldn't sleep,_" Borin said as he looked down at the ground, "_I had a nightmare._"

"_Oh what, and I'm not as scary as a nightmare?_" Rowan asked sarcastically with his raspy voice. "_Tell me about it._"

Rowan had shown many friendly sides to both of the kids. While many viewed children as another mouth to feed, Rowan and Shellene's love for children was shown from their ability to keep sane after watching over countless children. Borin often wished for a father like Rowan. Many of the other men in the city who did have children mainly taught his kids how to fight with a sword, often punishing the kids if they didn't meet his expectations.

After Borin told him about his dream, Rowan took off his helmet. His brown hair reached the top of his neck and had eyes as brown as soil. He took Borin over to a nearby bench and put his helmet aside. "_You really are quite an interesting little fellow,_" Rowan said bluntly, "_most kids have nightmares about wolves chasing them or Shellene coming at them with a cooking pan, but you really take the cake on this one._"

"_Yes sir,_" Borin laughed, as he could not come up with a better response.

They had spent another twenty minutes or so talking about things such as girls and war before Rowan glanced at a nearby sundial. "_Whoa! Look at the time! I have to get back to work!_" He blurted, "_I'll walk you back to the orphanage._"

They walked back to the center of the city, but Borin could not help but feel like he forgot to say something. As Rowan motioned towards the window, he finally remembered.

"_Hey, are you going to come over and visit me next Thursday?_" He said before entering the window.

"_What's so special about then?_" Rowan turned his head.

Borin glanced up at Rowan and smiled, "_It's my tenth birthday. I'll finally be old enough for school!"_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

It was now July 16th, Wednesday and Borin's birthday was just around the corner. He had been dreaming about starting school ever since he had heard about magic and swordsmanship. Ulric had already turned ten but had to wait until the following year in order to start school due to his late birthday in February.

Shellene had been in a rather grumpy mood recently with all the talk about school starting again. She had found herself overwhelmed with paperwork for incoming and outgoing students during the summer. Summer had usually been a hassle for her preparing her kids to depart for school rather than taking them to the Stormwind canal to play in the water.

It was finally his birthday and as Borin wished, Rowan woke up early in order to attend his "party" in the afternoon. Borin wasn't expecting any gifts, because he had never gotten any for his previous birthdays. Any money the orphanage could muster would go to food supplies for either the kids or the soldiers. Shellene, however, did find the time to make him a flimsy birthday hat made from the straw which filled many of the children's pillows. Rowan, however, did bring something which Borin could actually enjoy. As he congratulated Borin, he presented a small, deformed, cake that had no form of icing.

"_I'm no woman when it comes to making cakes, but this shouldn't make ya too sick,_" he laughed. Borin couldn't have cared less about the cake, he was just happy that people actually acknowledged his birthday.

"_So, school starts in…_" Ulric stopped in mid sentence after approaching Borin, "_is that a cake?_"

"_I think so,_" Borin said, "_wanna share it?_"

As the two boys ate their half burned cake bread, Rowan was sharing conversation with Shellene. She was happy to have some reason to stop stressing about the upcoming school year and have an uninterrupted conversation with her husband.

"_So he's finally ten years old, huh?_" he asked.

"_I guess so,_" she said, looking at Rowan strangely, "_why do you care?_" She paused and thought. "_Is he still sneaking out?_" she asked while leaning against the wall.

"_Boys will be boys, eh?_" he laughed.

On any other circumstances, Shellene would have lectured Borin about the issue, but he deserved to not be bothered about it today, she thought.

"_Sometimes I wonder how you still have your job,_" she said, attempting not to smile.

After another hour, the kids went back to their everyday lives. The girls were in the corner talking about boys and games and the boys were conspiring about something or another. With a perfectly distracted household, Rowan approached Borin while he was alone.

"_Borin, it's time for a serious conversation,_" Rowan said calmly, "_have you put any thought into what kind of profession you would like to go into if you were to pass you school?_"

Borin looked as though Rowan had just asked him to hit Ulric in the face. He had no clue what he meant. "_What do you mean; 'if' I pass? Is school hard?_" he asked.

"_Well no, but it depends on what you would like to do for a living. Like I told you, I was stuck on night shift guard duty for the safest place in the world,_" he said, not laughing this time.

Borin was scared; he had never seen Rowan act in such a way. "_What do you mean by profession?_" he asked curiously.

"_In this world… in Azeroth, there is so much more than just Stormwind City and Ironforge,_" he claimed as Borin stared up at him, "_I, myself never found any luck when it came to magic. I couldn't crate a fireball that wouldn't burn my own hand. I couldn't heal so much as a splinter. The only thing I found myself moderately good at is my shieldsmanship. I could tell you stories about the many tests I found myself going through with my group during school, but now is not the time._"

Borin was still just as confused as ever, but before he could say anything, Rowan interrupted him. "_I want you to take this,_" Rowan said as he handed him a rectangular box about the size of his arm, "_they were my first ones and they are rather expensive nowadays._" "_I don't want you to open just it yet 'cuz Shellene would kill me,_" he said, eyeing his wife, who was now beginning to cook dinner for the children. "_There's one in there for Ulric too, so tell him it's a late birthday gift from me, but wait until school starts to open it._"

Dinner that night was better than normal. This wasn't due to any different kind of cooking from Shellene, but because school was starting soon, he had gotten two gifts from Rowan, recognition for his birthday, shared a cake with his best friend, and oh yeah… a birthday hat.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The rest of the months of summer had passed by faster than normal to both of the boys. Borin had been thinking about what Rowan had told him; about "passing" school. He had plenty of time to think about it during the school year he thought, he didn't have to worry about it right now. He kept telling himself this every night for the remainder of the summer, expecting to meet teachers who would throw him over a cliff. Ulric seemed just as nervous. They had both been wondering what was in the box that Rowan had given them.

"_I heard that we will be living at the school from now on,_" Ulric whispered to Borin one night.

Borin seemed surprised, but came to a realization. No one in the orphanage was over ten years old. They had all gone away when they reached that age; they must have gone somewhere. He felt rather stupid that he had not realized this beforehand. "_Maybe we'll get our own beds._" Borin said with a grin.

"_I hope so, you might kill me in your sleep before we even get to school,_" Ulric said. Borin was a kid who had normally kicked and rolled in his sleep.

Borin wanted to make a creative comeback to Ulric, but couldn't think of anything. Ulric didn't have any odd characteristics compared to Borin. Ulric could sleep on the floor and Borin probably couldn't tell the difference. Borin couldn't do anything but laugh at the joke and go to bed.

The next morning, Borin asked Shellene about school. She seemed like she didn't want to talk about the subject, but Borin didn't know how to divert the subject. She simply looked at the counter and showed Borin her cooking pan.

"_You can learn many different things at school,_" she said, "_and not everyone is a fighter._"

"_Are you a fighter?_" he asked her.

She gave one small shake of the head. "_Puh!_" she said with a smirk on her face as she turned back towards the counter, "_right, like I could take on a five-hundred pound talking cow._"

"_Talking cow? You mean those Tauren things?_" he asked.

"_Yeah,_" she looked at him, "_those 'things'._"

"_Rowan said he was a shieldsman, does that make him a fighter?_" he asked.

"_Well, he's no cook like I am,_" she said, "_but don't take it from me. You will learn a lot more at your school._"

Borin seemed to not care about asking people anymore. It was almost time to start school and nothing else mattered. He and Ulric continued to do their weekly "escapes" and talk with Rowan about things throughout the months. Rowan started talking like they were going to be leaving forever.

"_We're not gonna be leaving forever, we're just going to be over at the school,_" Ulric told him, "_we can still come see you, sir._"

"_Well that might be true, but you won't be able to sneak out during the nights from that place, they aren't as lenient as Shellene and me,_" he warned, "_and I don't want you guys trying anything to break their rules either._"

The two boys pushed through the remainder of the summer with nothing in their minds but the first day of school. The temptation to open the rectangular box grew for each passing day.

It was now the day before they were to leave for school. "_Don't forget to pack your bags,_" Shellene announced, "_you will be leaving tomorrow morning._"

Ulric and Borin looked at each other. They had no bag to pack with. Come to think of it, they didn't have anything to "pack" other than the box.

Shellene was giving hugs to all of the ten year olds. "_Now, I won't have time to say goodbye to you all tomorrow, but come back anytime you want,_" she announced.

The sun had finally set. Shellene had blown out the candles and told everyone to go to bed. Ulric and Borin, of course, found it rather difficult to fall asleep this night. They had never been more anxious in their lives. Hours seemed to have passed before Borin finally felt drowsiness. He had just closed his eyes and turned to his side when he heard something.

A huge man, twice the size of Rowan, came barging through the main entrance. He was wearing normal village clothes, but was pale due to the constant use of armor. It seemed like the only way to cover this man with "clothes" was to throw blankets at his body until it had been fully covered.

He was silent at first; Shellene awoke and greeted the man. The two were talking softly to each other.

"_Are they ready?_" he asked with a deep voice.

"_Yes sir, they have packed everything they have and they are ready to go,_" he said.

"_Very well,_" he cleared his throat, "_Thea Cleves, Ulric Drake, Borin Gaunt, Ellyn Montfort, and Brom Scotts: Please follow me._"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The morning sky had been filled with clouds. Borin looked for a nearby sundial; it was four in the morning. He had never woken up so early in his life. Shellene had made it routine to wake the kids at eight for early exercises. She sometimes believed that wasting the children's energy in the morning would help prevent incidents in the later part of the day.

"_What time is it?_" asked Thea, a rather tall and skinny ten year old girl.

"_Why are we up so early?_" asked Ulric in a horse voice.

"_Your first day of class begins today,_" the man said as he turned the corner into one of the many archways in the city. The kids, although free to explore, had never wondered too far from the orphanage. They had no idea where they were or where how far they had walked.

"_Can you tell us what we will be doing for our first day?_" Borin asked the man calmly.

"_Certainly: Your will first be assigned beds. Every morning, you will be awoken at six o'clock sharp and are to run ten laps around the canal system. The last one to finish will have to run an extra two laps while the others are sent to the dining room for breakfast. We will of course have time for the last child to eat as well, but he will only have an estimated five minutes by the time he finishes,_" he said with a deep laugh.

"_So we won't be allowed to go back to sleep when we get there?_" asked Ulric.

"_Of course not! You should think of yourself lucky you got to go to sleep so early and wake up with a warm-up,_" he laughed.

"_So after breakfast, white time will it be?_" ask Borin.

"_Well the average time to run the laps is around an hour, so you it will probably be around seven thirty after you are finished eating,_" the man declared, "_You will be doing this for the two years you are to be in the Stormwind school._"

"_Every day for two years!_" Ulric whispered to Borin.

"_Certainly: two years in Stormwind should be ample time to learn the basics of cooking, tailoring, and fencing,_" he declared.

"_That's it?!_" Ulric blurted, "_that's all we learn? What about magic? What about everything else we have heard about school?_"

"_Magic? You children are far too young to learn about that stuff just yet. You would probably burn off your arm or heal the bacteria infecting a wound rather than the flesh if you tried anything like that just yet. No, you be learning about that stuff later,_" he said dismissively.

"_So, how did you end up being a swordsman? I think that's what you are, right?_" Borin asked to break the silence.

"_No actually,_" he replied, "_I am a blacksmith, trained in Ironforge. And as for how I became one, well… those were fifteen long years of school._"

"_Fifteen years…_" Borin thought, _"does it really take that long?_" The man had been going to school for longer than Borin had been alive.

"_He probably failed several times,_" Ulric nudged Borin, "_it can't be that hard to hit things with a hammer._"

"_You'd be surprised, lad,_" the man said, "_There's a lot more to it than that._"

Ulric looked ashamed knowing that the man overheard his joke. His face began to grow red with embarrassment as two girls in the group gave silent giggles.

Borin had been wondering something ever since the man mentioned learning magic at another time.

"_What do we do after these two…_" he said as the man interrupted.

"_We're here,_" the man shouted, "_in you go._"

The man had opened a tall wooden door to a dark, candle lit room with five rectangular tables in the middle. There were several other children in this room. Borin looked around at the others. He notice that there were more people than just his group: Eleven children who were rather small, four of which seemed bigger around the middle, six others who had blue skin and were about twice as tall as Borin himself, and three other children who looked "normal."

"_You have about half an hour to get yourselves settled before I tell you your schedules for today,_" the man said.

Borin had gotten a feeling that he forgot to say something again while the man began to close the door. "_What's your name, sir?_" he asked politely.

"_Oh, how rude of me,_" he turned towards Borin,"_The name's Fendrel Bolbec._"


End file.
